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Police union leader calls for 'killer games' sales ban

World would be better off without violent videogames

A senior German police official has called for violent videogames to be banned.

Heini Schmitt, head of the Hessen branch of the German police union, wants sales of these games to be blocked because, he claimed, “in every situation in which a violent rampage has occurred”, the perpetrator had an “addiction to so-called killer games”.

Despite admitting that there’s no proof that frequently playing violent videogames makes people turn into violent killers, Schmitt nonetheless said that “when a chance to remove a probable cause exists, it must be used”.

He also said that “the world would be no poorer if there were no more killer games”.

Presumably, Schmitt hasn’t seen 2008's games sales figures for Germany. According to market watcher GfK, the country’s videogame sales topped €695m (£642m/$940m). Grand Theft Auto IV was one of the most popular titles.

Schmitt’s comments haven’t gone unnoticed, though. German retail chain Galeria Kaufhof has already announced that from April it’ll no longer stock 18-plus rated videogames and films.

The firm’s decision is in response to the recent shooting at a German school, in which a former student gunned down 15 people. It was later claimed that the killer spent hours playing videogames, including Counter Strike. ®